Pollo alla Romana

A few weeks ago, Doug, a fellow Canadian poster at the Slowtravel web site posted this chicken recipe in the Food and Drink forum. Now I was a tad fearful given the huge controversy he started with his Eggplant Parmagianao post but this seemed too good to miss.

This recipe is from Cucina Romana by Sara Manuelli. It was a great recipe (especially as I had all of the ingredients on hand). We found that it was easy to prepare, only taking about an hour from start to finish.

We served it over cooked noodles. This with a salad, and a warmed roll made an excellent dinner.

Enjoy!

Pollo alla Romana

1 free-range or corn fed chicken, about 3 lb, cut into 8 pieces
olive oil
4 garlic cloves, crushed
small fistful of capers, desalted under cold, running water
pinch of dried oregano
1 1/2 cup dry white wine
28 oz canned peeled tomatoes
1 red pepper, cored, deseeded and sliced (optional)
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Gently fry the chicken pieces in a large deep pan in some olive oil. Add the garlic, capers, oregano and salt an pepper to taste. Once the chicken has soaked up all the flavours, pour in the wine and allow it to evaporate. Add the tomatoes and continue cooking for about 30 minutes. Stir every now and then to prevent the chicken from sticking to the pan. When the meat has separated from the bones, the chicken is ready.

As a variation, you can add a few slices of red peppers if you wish and let them cook with the chicken for a further 15 minutes.